soakes94 Posted June 19, 2016 Share Posted June 19, 2016 Looking for some advice about software would work best for outputting content to 4 different projectors. Have tried Q-Lab before but it took hours to program and overall the experience wasn't great. The content is both a mix of images and videos. If it helps, its for our panto, we have 3 arches with BP screens and projectors behind them and also a front projector for a white CYC that we project onto. Preferably it would be controlled from either an LX desk or from another machine running Q-Lab. It tends to be that the shows have 2 operators. One for live sound and one that looks after LX, SFX and AV. So for the person operating the cues its best if there aren't more than 2 go buttons. Sound is ran from Q-Lab remote trigger cues could go in there or it could be added to LX however Q-Lab is my preferred option. As for hardware available its all Apple stuff so the software would need to be compatible with apple. Previously we ran a Mac Book Pro with Q-lab, the HDMI output went to the FoH projector and then we used a lighting output and a TripleHead. The 2 I have looked at are Avolites Ai and Arkaos. But neither seem to be really aimed at cue based theatre shows. It could be I just need to play around with them more but if someone has any ideas about other software that would be great. CheersStephen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickb12345 Posted June 19, 2016 Share Posted June 19, 2016 What was taking ages to program in qlab? I would say it's probably one of the best tools for this job. Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eamon Posted June 19, 2016 Share Posted June 19, 2016 I would recommend isadora for a multiple projection job. Whilst qlab 3 has vastly improved the video/projector experience of the software, isadora is a much better tool for what I believe you are intending. Isadora is primarily a video resourcr program as opposed to qlabs initial audio strengths. The audio playback is ok on isadora but no where near as good as it can be on qlab. It is a video program first and foremost and far superior to qlab 3 imo. Each to their own etc and all depends on what you are doing. One of the strengths of isadora is the ability to use a variety of sources as a trigger input. I have not done this but a very good nerd (ier) friend of mine has managed to trigger isadora through qlab via syphon on the same machine. This was for a test and not tried in show mode. I have not upgraded to isadora 2 so am unsure as to its strengths etc. Have a look at the youtube tutorials. Whilst the software at first glance looks complicated, mark (the designer) is very good at explaining it Have not got round to trying out osc on isadora. It should work. I know midi does. Work a look. The "demo" is free and is the full software. You cannot save etc. Isadora works natively on Mac OSX and Windows. I have only ever used it on mac so am unsure as to what the pc experience is like re software add ons etc. Rough cost is about £300 for an individual licence. By the sounds of it, the step is upgrading to a hippo or something similar. Isadorahttp://troikatronix.com/ YouTube guides:https://www.google.ie/url?q=http://m.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DVqNw_4AWvvA&sa=U&ved=0ahUKEwi_heqdn7TNAhWlLsAKHctRANEQtwIICzAA&sig2=eYAmkQl9b-zdaSblMYAZpQ&usg=AFQjCNF6sHT8i2wc_doTXr8DVpUhG5-j5g Hope that helps. Eamon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J Pearce Posted June 19, 2016 Share Posted June 19, 2016 I have to say with the situation you describe that my first tool to fonder would be qlab. Use surfaces properly, preprogram as much as you can before tech rehearsals and you should be in a strong position. Perhaps find a qlab programmer to do some of the initial setup for you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soakes94 Posted June 19, 2016 Author Share Posted June 19, 2016 Our problems with Q-lab did come from the ignition programming time. Having to program in all the fades between images and then stop cues seemed to take hours, it was my first time programming video and images in Q-lab on such a big scale as well so that did slow me down, I did start to speed up as time passed though. Our other problem was a lot of the content wasn't created for us until the tech week and it was all getting programmed in during tech rehearsals and then images were getting added or taken out days before we opened. Once it was all programmed it was a dream to operate. However I think the mac book pro did struggle with dealing with everything, the occasional random spinning beach ball and the screens blanking out. I have a production about this years show coming up and I know AV will come up as a big issue as it did cause problems during the production week last year. And I want to make sure that this year were on top of it and have a solution that works. I will take a look at Isadora and see how it works and if it will work for us better than Q-Lab.Cheers for the ideas so far!Stephen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ynot Posted June 20, 2016 Share Posted June 20, 2016 We had very good results from our PC using Show Cue System (SCS). We ran 3 projectors last year on Pitmen Painters for 3 separate image sources and it coped admirably.It is a licensed bit of software but well worth the spend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ninjadingle Posted June 20, 2016 Share Posted June 20, 2016 If you have access to enough computers - I'd be putting this in with LX and run media servers for each projector. I've done this a few times now using Chamsys MagicQ and Magic HD, but you can do it with most software based systems... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Javis Posted June 20, 2016 Share Posted June 20, 2016 I would echo the previous comments on Qlab about some pre-programming with surfaces could help, however the fades between media can often be tedious. What would be the budget for this type of show, have you though about potentially renting a media server such as green hippo and a tech for a fews days to get you up and running, do the pre program then link to your LX desk. This is something I have done recently for a local theatre who wanted to have 3 LCD monitors and 2 projectors in their show using live camera and various media queues. Another good piece of software is also millium. I used this in a show and, and edited the media previously with some fades etc and then created a queue stack and a usb controller for the op to run alongside their sound board. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soakes94 Posted June 20, 2016 Author Share Posted June 20, 2016 I'm still waiting to get finalised budgets for this. However it wont be much at all. Not enough to hire a media server, I'm not even sure it will cover a software licence and I have a feeling they will need to go back and rethink either the set design or budgets! I just wanted to be able to provide a range of options for them at this upcoming meeting. Pretty sure I will get told no for all of them and asked what was wrong with last years setup but oh well! Thanks for all the advice so far :) S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ninjadingle Posted June 20, 2016 Share Posted June 20, 2016 Chamsys is a free download ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soakes94 Posted June 20, 2016 Author Share Posted June 20, 2016 I've never looked at Chamsys much, I keep meaning to investigate it but haven't got there yet! I will need to get reading I think! Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alistermorton Posted June 20, 2016 Share Posted June 20, 2016 Another good piece of software is also millium. I used this in a show and, and edited the media previously with some fades etc and then created a queue stack and a usb controller for the op to run alongside their sound board. Do you mean Millumin ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AHYoung Posted June 20, 2016 Share Posted June 20, 2016 Just run qlab and run sound and video off the same go button. Irrespective of all the suggestions, its not going to take ten minutes to programme a whole show with 4 displays on anything and qlab is as simple as you will get. You wont get something free that will do something complicated without any programming effort, so at least with qlab its affordable and relatively simple and as it seems the industry standard software, any new skills learned as a result wont go amiss. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbuckley Posted June 20, 2016 Share Posted June 20, 2016 If (the excellent) Isadora is too much money, then vvvv (yes, 4 x v) can do similar things, is free to download (but for commercial use one should pay for a licence) and is very capable. Its a patching language, like Max or PD. It also has one hell of a learning curve; you really are trading vvvv time for Isadora money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soakes94 Posted June 20, 2016 Author Share Posted June 20, 2016 In some ways I like the idea of Q-Lab as I already kind of know whats involved and don't have to learn anything new! I guess one question would be what apple machine would you recommend for running all of those outputs? Last year we ended up using my personal Mac Book Pro which was a 2014 model with a SSD and it struggled at points. It was running a triple head for the 3 rear projectors and used the HDMI output for the FoH projector and then the built in display for the control side. It was then triggered via OSC from the mac running sound playback. In terms of whats available to us we have a 2010 mac mini that previously we have used to run Q-Lab for audio playback and a new mac mini. I personally don't think that will be enough, I'd rather not add any AV to the audio mac mini. I like the idea of keeping the systems separate. I think we would need a 2nd mac mini, what are other peoples thoughts on this though? CheersStephen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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